


Ask The Trees

by Meh_forget_it



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Gen, Implied Slash, Non-Human Harry, Season 4 Buffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-20 10:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2425853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meh_forget_it/pseuds/Meh_forget_it
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brains, braids and a mischievous streak large enough to get him run out of Britain. Who is this 'green boy'? And what happened to Harry Potter? BtVS xover. Slash(ish).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They belong to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon respectively. I am making no money from this. 
> 
> A/N - Given Harry is pretty much still a child in mind, he's more asexual than anything else. He finds people attractive (I.e. Xander), it doesn't actually mean he wants to act on that attraction. So yeah, there won't actually be any big romances in this.

Prologue

Harry has always known he was a little... odd. It comes with having green skin. Oh, not bright green skin. Just enough to make him look a little different. Or ill. Most people took it to mean he was feeling sick.

Of course, once he found out about his parents and the wizarding world, Harry began to wonder if there was a reason for his strange pigmentation or the fact that he could make things happen just by thinking of it.

The explanation that he was a wizard just didn't cut it with Harry. Not when he was eleven, and certainly not as he got older. And it turned out that wizards were just as, if not more, blind than muggles in some things. His skin being green just happened to be one of them.

He spent the whole of his time at Hogwarts thought of as sickly. It irritated Harry a little, if he was honest.

Another thing that annoyed him was everyone saying he looked so much like his father. If they were talking about James, then they were blind. Harry saw photos of James Potter and could honestly say that he saw no likeness between them. Well. They both had black hair. He could admit that might be similar.

Harry didn't wear glasses though, James did. Harry was short, really short, and as far as he could tell from the photos, James really wasn't. Of course, Harry had conceded that that could have been caused by the near starvation he endured at times by the Dursley's. Not that he blamed them for starving him. He  _was_  a little shit to them.

So for the first sixteen years of his life, Harry had no idea who he really was. He didn't believe the cock and bull story the wizards gave him about being the son of Lily and James Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding World. No. Neither of the elder Potter's had green skin!

So Harry just stewed in silence, not bringing attention to the fact that he had no idea who or what he was. He certainly wasn't human. He knew that  _trees_  didn't speak to humans. Not that they were very helpful. They didn't tell him what he was either.

Then, he got his breakthrough in his sixth year. They had to do a potion that would show them the names of their parents. It wouldn't have told him what he was, but it told him who he was.

* * *

Harry watched Slughorn closely as he told the class what the potion for that day was supposed to be. He silently admitted to himself that he really wanted to do this potion. An inheritance potion apparently. Which would tell him who he was and give him a starting point to finding out  _what_  he was. Because the trees were really beginning to piss him off.

Harry quickly got off his stool and walked to the store cupboard to get the ingredients he would need for this potion.

After adding the finally piece of arrowroot to his cauldron and then stirring it the required amount of times, Harry was pleased to see that it was the right colour. Not that he was shocked. Even if he had been bad at Potions when he first arrived, the prefects of Ravenclaw made sure that none of the new Raven's were behind or struggling in any of their subjects. Apparently that wasn't the impression they were supposed to give of their house.

Not that Harry particularly cared what people thought of him or his house. He was quite clearly a disappointment to the Wizarding World as a whole, and obvious distrust of everyone, a mischievous streak a mile wide and apparent discomfort in general made people prefer to leave him alone.

Still, Harry had made a particular effort with this potion. He wanted, no  _needed_  to know who his parents were. And possibly what he was.

His hands trembled in barely concealed excitement as he took out the sheet of parchment he would be turning into a new birth certificate, and then glanced around the room to see what everyone else was doing. It appeared he had managed to finish the potion before most of his fellow classmates, besides Terry Boot, who was now allowing his charmed quill to write across his own piece of parchment.

Harry then nibbled on his lip and glanced at his potion anxiously, he then took a deep breath and pricked his finger, allowing his blood to drop four times into the potion, watching it turn from pale yellow, to burnt orange, then, somehow, fade into pure gold, in satisfaction. He grabbed his quill and dipped it into the potion and then placed the nib at his parchment.

Harry jerked and opened his eyes at the sound of his quill dropping to the table and then glanced at the writing on the parchment nervously.

"Buck up, Potter. Read it," he muttered to himself and then frowned at what it said, glancing around him to make sure no one was paying him any attention. He wasn't surprised to see that no one was. The novelty of the strange Potter kid, that was supposed to save them, but never did, had worn off part way into his second year, when he had made a snake explode for calling him names.

His defence that he had actually been intending to tickle the snake into an apology hadn't cut it and he'd been given a detention. During that month of scrubbing cauldrons, the students and staff of Hogwarts had come to the general consensus that he really was just as odd as he had appeared to be when he had first arrived.

To be fair to Harry, having only really had trees and flowers to talk to for the first ten years of his life had had somewhat of an affect on his mental state.

Still he was now looking at his homemade birth certificate, holding it with shaking hands, a multitude of emotions running through him. The main one being relief.

"The prophecy doesn't mean me," he whispered as he stared at the sheet of parchment in his hands.

_**Name:** _ _Rhys-Robin Goodfellow_

_**Date of Birth:** _ _1_ _st_ _August, 1980_ _**Time of Birth:** _ _5:57am_

_**Mother:** _ _Lily Evans-Potter_

_**Father:** _ _Robin Goodfellow._

Now all he had to find out was who the hell Robin Goodfellow was, and what the bloody hell he was. He was almost certain that Lily was human. Ninety percent. Maybe eighty.

Which left Robin Goodfellow.

And why the bloody hell everyone called him Harry.

* * *

It took him until the end of his sixth year to find out who Robin Goodfellow was, and he found out by pure accident when he stumbled into the small section in the library dedicated to Muggle literature.

In a play.  _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. Puck.

Harry, or Rhys as he had been calling himself mentally, was man enough (or possibly not, given who his father was) to admit that he had laughed somewhat hysterically at that. Then wondered if it was just coincidence.

So he decided that there really was only one way to find out.

So whilst everyone else was busy being distracted by the fact that Voldemort was trying to take over the Wizarding World, and the fact that  _someone_  had somehow managed to fill the Great Hall full with marshmallows, Harry snuck out into the Forbidden Forest. He greeted the trees he was most familiar with happily, as they directed him with whispers towards a clearing that would be perfect for him to call Robin Goodfellow to him.

If he was honest, he had been more surprised that Robin Goodfellow actually  _did_  exist and hadn't been made up by some whacked out Muggle who clearly had something of an unhealthy addiction to an opiate of some sort, than he was that there was a way to call the... whatever he was, to him.

So Harry, or Rhys, made his circle of sugar and then placed his offering in the middle. It hadn't stated what the offering should be, but Harry had figured if he was going to be summoned, he'd like something to eat and drink when he arrived. So Harry's offering was some treacle tart, a glass of honeyed rose-water and a bag of the best pranks he had been able to find without leaving Hogsmeade. He was actually quite proud of what he had managed to find.

"Er... shit, knew I should have memorised that bloody spell. Look, Mr Goodfellow, sir. If you can hear me, I kinda need your help with something." Harry looked around the clearing and then sighed after ten minutes of silence. "I have treacle tart?"

"Why didn't you say that?!" Harry shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, then turned around and saw a tall man standing behind him with a smirk on his  _green-tinged_  face, leaning against the oak tree that Harry was rather fond of. "So, kid. What did you need my help with? The marshmallow thing in your school wasn't me."

"No. No, that was me," Harry admitted with a shrug and a frown, nibbling on his lip as he wondered how to word his enquiry. Robin threw his head back and laughed, showing off his pointed teeth, that made Harry run his tongue over his own slightly pointed teeth.

"Ah, that was a good one, kid. Mind if I use that in the faerie courts one day?"

"Sure?"

"Cool. So, what did you need to ask of me then?" Robin asked him, pushing up from the wall and walking over to the offerings in the middle of the circle. He picked up the goblet and sniffed it, before raising an eyebrow and looking at Harry. "How'd you know my favourite drink?"

"It's my favourite. I figured if it was good enough for me, it might be good enough for you," Harry said, then frowned as he thought about what he had said. "That didn't come out right."

"I get what you meant, kid. Look, I can't keep calling you kid, what's your name?" Robin asked, moving to sit on the grass with his legs cross. Harry nibbled on his lip for another second before taking a deep breath and moving to sit across from Robin.

"I'm Rhys," Harry told him in a quiet voice, noticing Robin stiffen slightly, Harry looked up through his shaggy fringe and eyelashes at the man before him. "Rhys-Robin Goodfellow."

"What?" Robin gasped out in a whisper, and Rhys looked away, shrugging and then shifting and pulling the parchment out of his robe pocket. He handed it to the being in front of him and then looked out to the trees, smiling softly when he felt their reassuring whispers brush over his skin, caressing him and soothing him.

"She told me you'd died." Rhys jerked in his seat to look at the man, who was looking at the parchment in his hands as though it held the answers of the universe. Rhys was pretty damned certain it didn't. He wouldn't have handed it over quite so eagerly if it had.

"Huh?"

"Your mother, Lily. She told me that she had miscarried. Then she... she disappeared a month later. I never... I didn't know about you. I didn't  _know_ ," Robin said through gritted teeth, the parchment in his hand being crushed, before he shakily let go and smoothed it out.

"So... you thought I'd died?" Rhys asked him after a few moments of complete silence, broken only by hushed whispers from nature and Robin's heavy breathing as he tried to calm himself down.

"Yes. Where... where is she now?"

"Dead. As far as I know, anyway. Died when I was one. I was brought up by her sister and her family. They didn't like me very much," Rhys added with a shrug, then smirked and looked up at Robin. "I made sure they'd never forget me though."

"Oh? What... Did... Why did you find me?" Robin asked finally, after seemingly trying to find the right words.

"I knew. I  _knew_ James Potter wasn't my father. But everyone around me... they're blind! They can't see me. They don't... they don't get me. They think I'm a freak and... I  _am_! Compared to them, I am. I never knew that Wizards had never really encountered a vegetarian before I came along. I don't... I spent the last six years in this world looking for who I am. Then we made that," Rhys said, waving his hand at the birth certificate and shaking his head, the small braids in his hair whipping around him.

"And you found out about me," Robin finished, and Rhys nodded and then shrugged.

"I get if you don't want anything to do with me, really I do. I just... I need to know who – No,  _what_  I am. I just needed answers."

"What gives you the impression I wanted nothing to do with you?" Robin asked him incredulously, and Rhys' head snapped up and he gaped at Robin.

"Why would you? I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen. I... who wants a nearly adult son dropped in their lap?" Harry asked him, still incredulous. Robin smiled at him and then shook his head.

"Me. I've never had a kid. No one to pass on my knowledge to. No one I could trust with my kingdom. I'm a  _king_. I... I want to be your father."

"Sounds good to me," Rhys said with a weak smile, looking at Robin, who smiled back at him. "One more question. I promise, this is my last one."

"What's that? And you can ask me all the questions you want," Robin added, making Rhys look at him dubiously before looking down at him.

"What do I  _look_  like to you?" Rhys asked, looking back at Robin, to see him staring at Rhys in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... you didn't even twig who I might be, no one seems to think there is anything actually different with me besides being mentally unstable, everyone thinks I look like James. What do they see? Because it sure as hell ain't what I see when I look in the mirror."

"Huh. You're short, but not too short, maybe five foot six? You have lightly tanned skin, wide green eyes, and shaggy, short black hair. Why, what do you see?" Robin asked him, and Rhys gaped at him for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face.

"I've got skin the same colour as yours, my hair is shaggy and black, but it's not that short. It's just above my shoulders. And my height? I  _am_  short. I'm five three. If that. My eyes  _are_  green though, dunno if they could be considered wide. I always thought they were more cat-like. Like your own," Rhys added, looking up at Robin, his  _father_ , who had stood up during his description and was pacing. Rhys could see that Robin quite clearly reached six foot, if not taller.

"You... You must have some sort of spell on you," Robin finally concluded, and Rhys nodded his head, having come up with that same explanation himself when Robin described him, and stood up, brushing off his robes and placing his hands in his pockets. "I can... I can find some way to take it off of you."

"Okay. Just... I figure I should graduate first, before I change species in front of their eyes," Rhys said with a small grin.

"It may fade naturally on your seventeenth. Wizards have some sort of unhealthy obsession with that age."

"I'd noticed. They mature or something on that birthday." Rhys added with a shrug and Robin looked at him and grinned.

"You won't. You're only a baby in sprite years. We don't truly reach adulthood until we are six hundred and thirty."

"Huh. That's quite... Old," Rhys said, using all his energy to not gape at his father.

"You could say that. Not for us though."

"So... what now?" Rhys asked, after a couple of minutes in which they just stared at one another in silence.

"When do you finish this year of school?"

"Er... next Wednesday. We take the train back to London King's Cross. We normally arrive into London at about six in the evening," Rhys told him, frowning a little in confusion.

"Then I shall pick you up from there at six. If I am to be a good father, I need to start by collecting you from school. Then move on to making up for the sixteen birthdays and Winter Solstices I have missed."

"You – You want me to live with you?" Rhys asked him, gaping in shock.

"Sure. I get if you don't want to. I mean, you're almost an adult in human years, but... you're my baby son in my eyes. I want to make up the time we lost. And most of all, I want to introduce you to my kingdom."

"I thought... I thought Titania and Oberon ruled the faerie court," Rhys said with a confused frown and Robin grinned at him mischievously.

"Technically, they do. But I rule over nature. They listen to my advice, because they know that if they don't, I'll prank them mercilessly."

"Oh. And you really want me to be your son?"

"I'm positive."

"Oh. Well... that's really pretty cool." Rhys finally said, beaming at his father, getting a wide smile in return.

"There is one thing though, should you come with me in the summer, then you need to know that time runs faster in the faerie courts. Because you're not mortal, you won't age during that time, but you'll live with me for a couple of decades in the summer. In fact, it'll possibly be a good thing as I'll be able to teach you what you might need to know about being a sprite and also being my heir."

"Would my being only half-sprite mean that I will age? I mean, technically, am I not still mortal due to my mother's blood," Rhys asked, frowning in confusion though not really having any doubts about wanting to go with his father.

"You're not. Half-sprite, I mean. There's no such thing. The child of a sprite and a mortal will either be born mortal or a sprite. No half and half. Given you have green skin, I'm thinking you are a sprite," Robin told him with a grin, getting an answering grin from Rhy in return.

"Oh well, in that case then, I look forward to seeing your kingdom."

" _Our_  kingdom," Robin corrected before he smirked and leant forward, nearer to Rhys. "Now, about the marshmallows. How did you get them into the hall?"

* * *

Of course, being the son of Puck did explain his insatiable need to cause mischief. Rhys went through his seventh and final year - after spending about sixty years with the Unseelie Court - being ignored by most of the staff and students or getting disappointed looks from them for not doing anything to stop Voldemort. He just stayed in the background, did his homework and made everyone in Hogwarts' lives a living hell through pranks.

Occasionally he played jump rope with the Whomping Willow when everyone was asleep. That was fun. Especially the cursing that the Willow did when talking about the stupid students that tried to play chicken with him.

And when he graduated, he was actually proud to be leaving with the third highest NEWT scores in their year. His father was equally proud.

They had spent the whole of his seventh year talking through weekly letters, making plans on how to make the Wizarding World pay for keeping him away from his true family. To be fair, Rhys did concede that it was really just Lily's fault, but still, he and Robin were both pissed about it and had made plans to make everyone pay.

Which brought him to where he was now. Running. From an entire country of angry wizards and witches. Voldemort even more so. He hadn't appreciated all of his followers being cursed into perma-Playboy bunnies. To the best of his knowledge, they still hadn't worked out how to get rid of the rabbit ears and fluffy tails. Rhys snickered every time he remembered the look on Lucius Malfoy's face as he tried to push the floppy ear out of his face whilst he aimed a curse at the laughing sprite.

That was another thing that he hadn't kept secret. During the graduation ceremony, Harry Potter had walked up to accept his certificate and Rhys-Robin Goodfellow had left the stage much to the shock of everyone in the Great Hall, and pride of Robin Goodfellow.

So a yeah and a half after his graduation, Rhys was on a plane to America. The Hellmouth to be exact. He could have gone to live with his father, but he wanted to see the world.

Actually, he just saw the potential havoc and mischief he could cause in a place where evil seemed to congregate. Rhys giggled evilly and rubbed his hands together, making the woman in the seat next to him shift away from him and glance at him nervously, when the pilot announced their arrival at LA.

The mischief was about to begin.

If Rhys could work out a way to get to Sunnydale...


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I totally intended to post this before now but shit happens, no? Still, here it is! Enjoy!

Rhys got to Sunnydale by hitchhiking. And a little magic. Well, who could blame him? Wasn't safe to be accepting lifts from complete strangers; especially strangers heading to Sunnydale. It was also still daylight just about, when he got into the van, so at least he had that one less worry. Still, there were a lot of human looking demons/creatures that could walk around in sunlight. He was one of them after all.

A young man called Devon, who was apparently the same age as him and was in a band, drove the van he had chosen to take him into Sunnydale. He also had a marijuana plant growing in the back, which was giggling and whispering secrets to Rhys about werewolves and what Devon got up to in the back of the van; things that had Rhys raising an eyebrow and desperately trying to smother his laughter.

"So, you not from around here then?" Devon asked once they watched the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign pass them by, Rhys turned to look at Devon incredulously.

"Whatever gave me away?" Rhys deadpanned, watching as Devon shrugged.

"Dunno, the accent I guess. You don't sound like you're from Sunnydale," Devon told him and Rhys gaped at him and then looked behind him at the badly hidden plant.

"Huh. No, I'm not from Sunnydale. I'm from London, England," Rhys told him, looking out the window at the passing houses, noticing just how many cemeteries there were.

"Sounds nice. Where do you want to be dropped off?"

"Er… is there a park?" Rhys asked, watching the scenery pass them by.

"There's loads. But there is the main one near the old high school. You wanna be dropped off there?" Devon asked him and Rhys glanced at him and then nodded.

"If that's not too much trouble," Rhys told him with a wide smile, using his magic to subtly make Devon agree to it.

"Nah, I'll drop you off there, it's not that far from my parents house," Devon told him and Rhys smiled widely at him and then turned to look back out the window.

It took another ten minutes before Devon pulled to a stop outside of a large park entrance. Rhys grabbed his backpack from behind his seat and then opened the van door.

"Thank you for the lift, Devon. Oh, and you should learn to hide your plats a little better. And the one in the back would like some more sunshine if you would," Rhys added with a grin, giggling at the dumbfounded expression on the musician's face. "I hope we meet again."

Rhys shut the van door behind him and then hitched his bag over his shoulder and looked at the park in front of him. It was practically brimming with trees and thus, perfect for Rhys' new home.

Grinning to himself, he waited until Devon had pulled away and the tail lights of the van had disappeared into the darkness of the night, before he walked into the park, sighing in relief when he felt all the trees reach out and greet him, voices all chattering along the wind happily.

Rhys delicately walked through the park, heading for where he sensed the parks oldest tree was - a willow tree, which happened to be his favourite type - and silently made his way off the path, and through the trees, the plants along the ground stretching up to caress his legs as he passed.

' _Behind you.'_  Rhys tilted his head to the side and stopped where he was walking, looking at the trees that were bending towards him, the grass and plants near his feet winding over his soft leather shoes.

"I wouldn't attack me if I were you, little vampire," Rhys said, still not turning around to face the one following him.

"Oh? I would say you were the little one," A decidedly male voice said behind him and Rhys bristled slightly but then smirked and left his hand brush across the trunk of the nearest tree.

"Perhaps, but I am not food for you. You don't want to cross me. I'm not human," Rhys said, smiling as the thin branches of the tree wound around his wrist and tugged at him playfully, making the vampire behind him gasp.

"What the hell are you?" Rhys gently pulled his arm free f the trees grasp and then turned around the face the vampire behind him. He was taller than Rhys, which wasn't really hard, but he really wasn't that tall. No more than average. He had dirty blond hair and Rhys couldn't help but wonder what colour his eyes would have been, had he not been in his demon face.

"Me? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rhys Goodfellow. I'm a sprite. And you, you picked the wrong person to stalk. Did the green skin not give me away that I wasn't normal?" Rhys couldn't help but ask, watching as the tree behind the vampire raised a thick branch.

"Oh yeah! You've got green skin. Dude, that is so wa—" The vampire was interrupted and looked down in horror at the branch sticking out through his chest.

"The trees like me. Don't mess with me," Rhys told him just as the vampire exploded into a cloud of dust and the branch that had killed him was pulled back into the treetops. "Thank you."

Rhys smiled and stroked the trunk of the tree beside him once more and then turned around and began on his way to the mother tree in the park.

It took him another five or so minutes before he got there, and then he stood and smiled widely and the huge tree in front of him.

"May I make my home within your branches please?" Rhys asked the tree, head tilted to the side as he looked up at the large plant.

' _My arms are your bed, little prince.'_  Rhys blushed and then smiled widely, stepped through the long branches that brushed the ground, feeling them whisper as he passed through them and then looked at the trunk of the tree, trying to think of the best way to get as high up as he could get.

Nodding his head decisively, he walked over to the trunk and then carefully placed his foot in a small groove in the trunk and pulled himself up into the mass of branches. He carefully moving between them, making sure not to damage the tree as the branches moved out of his way to show him towards the highest, most comfortable place in the tree.

"Thank you," Rhys said once he had made himself comfortable, smiling as several branches came and draped over him, curling over his sides to make sure he didn't fall out. Rhys then moved his bag to act as a pillow and plumped it slightly before he put his head down on it. It had been a long day and so it was hardly surprising to Rhys when he fell asleep almost immediately, soothed into sleep by the gossipy whispers of the tress as they spoke to each other.

* * *

Rhys spent the next week wandering around the town of Sunnydale, smiling when he passed the University and noticed that it must have only recently started. The trees surrounding the paths on the campus all seemed very happy to see him and speak with him. Though they were somewhat upset that he chose the other side of town to make his home.

He had been there a week when he was walking down a path at night, just as a branch snuck out and wrapped around his waste tightly, pulling him into the trees and shrubs lining the path. Rhys gave a startled, somewhat muffled cry but was silenced when another branch came up and brushed down his cheek soothingly.

' _Shh. See the Slayer.'_ Rhys titled his head curiously, and then looked out through the leaves covering him as he watched a young blonde girl, possibly the same age as him, though if what she was saying was right, then a year younger. She was possibly only an inch or two taller than him and was talking to a vampire, who she seemed to know.

"Eddie! Eddie, hey! Wait up. God, I was worried something had happened to you!" The blonde girl, the Slayer, shouted as she jogged after the vampire whom Rhys realised she clearly didn't realise what he was.

"I thought Slayer's could sense vampires," Rhys whispered to the branch caressing his face.

' _She doesn't use her powers to their fullest.'_

"And of course it has, because you're a vampire," the Slayer said as she caught up with the vampire, who was now wearing his demon face. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," Eddie said to her, before he lunged for her and Rhys absently took the offered petals and began to munch on them as he watched the two fight, not in the least surprised when the Slayer staked the vampire only seconds later. Of course, by that time, Rhys had noticed the blonde vampire that was standing on a rock behind the vampire and just to the side of where Rhys was being hidden.

"I like the blue ones, whose are they?" Rhys whispered, and smiled when a small shrub by his feet rustled in excitement. "Thank you."

"The Slayer!" Rhys looked over at the blonde vampire just as the Slayer turned around the face her as well. "Wow. Um, I heard you might be coming here," The blonde vampire said, as more vampires came out of hiding and surrounded the Slayer.

"Does she not have a watcher anymore?" Rhys whispered, making a small, excited noise when he was offered more light blue petals.

' _She is separate from the Council. Her watcher is no longer her watcher.'_

"This is… I mean, what a challenge. The Slayer," The blonde vampire said, as the Slayer watched the newly arrived vampires warily.

"And you are?" The Slayer asked, looking at the lead vampire. Rhys was impressed at how she wasn't showing the fear she quite clearly was feeling.

"Should we help?"

' _Not yet, princeling. Do not bring the Slayer's attention on to you.'_

"I'm Sunday," The vampire told her, flicking a piece of blonde hair over her shoulder and making Rhys wrinkle his nose. "I'll be killing you here in a minute of so."

"That threat gets more frightening every time I hear it," the Slayer said, and she and the vampire stared at each other, until the vampire next to Sunday shifted and took a step forward.

"Are we gonna fight? Or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?" The male vampire asked, pressing his hands together in front of him.

"I'm in for a piece," another female vampire said from behind the Slayer, making the Slayer turn her head to look at that vampire. Rhys narrowed his eyes and grinned as he watched a branch slowly sneak out and stake the vampire furthest from the group and the only one that had yet to speak. He turned to dust with barely a gasp just as the Slayer spoke again.

"Everybody gets to play."

"Hear that? We get to play," Rhys whispered, wiggling with excitement as he wriggled his fingers.

"Guys, this… is totally… mine," Sunday said as she casually strolled down the steps from her spot and walked to stand in front of the Slayer.

"What's her name?"

' _Buffy Summers.'_

"Okay, but you gotta share the eatin'. 'Cause I'm thinking Slayer's bloods gotta be – whoa! – like Thai stick," the male vampire said, making everyone look at him incredulously.

"Aren't people supposed to get smarter in college?" The Slayer, Buffy, asked, which was very similar to what Rhys had been thinking. The trees and plants all giggled around him, making Rhys see just how fond of their Slayer, the plant life in Sunnydale actually were.

"Why'd you like her so much?"

' _She gave us back the sun!'_

"I think you had misconceptions about college." Sunday told Buffy, then sneered at what Buffy was wearing. "Like anyone would be caught dead wearing  _that_." Buffy looked somewhat insulted and then looked down at her clothes, which gave Sunday the opening she needed to punch Buffy, sending the Slayer flying to the floor, where the other vampires all pounced on her.

"Hey, do you have any of the pink ones left?" Rhys whispered, and then made a happy sound when a branch appeared with hundreds of pink petals resting in the leaves. "Thank you."

Rhys then sat back and watched with slight disappointment as Sunday slowly beat her to a pulp, before wrapping her fingers around Buffy's neck picking her up off the platform she had been standing on not long before.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but…" Sunday hit Buffy then grabbed her again. "… you fight like a girl." Buffy was then thrown off the platform, where Sunday jumped off of it after her.

Rhys stroked the branch holding him soothingly and smiled when the bushes by his feet (with the blue petals) rustled with excitement when Buffy began to land kicks on Sunday. Unfortunately it didn't last for long, and soon enough, Sunday once again had the upper hand and threw Buffy onto a large car, then followed her onto it and carried on beating her up.

"Kill the tubby vampire," Rhys whispered, stroking the branches as the said tubby vampire passed in front of him, only to give a small cry of shock as a sharp branch was forced into her heart from the back. "Good trees."

He turned back to the fight just in time to see Buffy get thrown to the floor and then pick herself up, glance at the two vampires left and then quickly run away from them. The vampires watched her leave and then turned to face one another once more, both looking shocked that they were the only two left.

"Where are –?" Sunday stopped and looked around them, spotting two piles of ash where the two vampires had been standing and frowned. "Let's get out of here."

Rhys waited until the vampires had disappeared form sight before he detangled himself from the tree, letting his magic brush over the trees and shrubs that had covered and fed him, making them all grow and bloom a little more right in front of his eyes, and then bounced on his toes.

"That was exciting! Weren't you excited?" Rhys asked, looking at the plants that had protected him from view.

' _You should head back to Mother Willow, princeling. You will be getting tired soon.'_

"No! No, I'm not! I'm so not tired! I'm riding the excitement of seeing the Slayer!" Rhys said, still bouncing slightly and completely ignoring the fatigue he was feeling.

' _You are still a baby. You need your sleep.'_  The trees whispered to him and Rhys pouted and then sighed.

"Fine. I'll go home and to bed. I'll make sure to come back here tomorrow to say hello. And to see if I can follow the Slayer! I like her, she's spunky," Rhys told them with a bright smile, eyes twinkling with excitement, then he winked and disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of green and gold glitter.

* * *

Rhys practically skipped through the town the next day, running his fingers over the flowers that he passed and making small, excited noises when they offered him plenty of petals to eat as he wandered the town. He noticed a club that wasn't open yet, but looked interesting, called The Bronze, and made a note to go there if things at the college were boring.

"So… what's the gossip?" Rhys asked vaguely a couple of hours later after he had wandered around the town and was now in the campus, looking for all the world like he was talking to himself as he allowed his fingers to run through the grass, letting his magic flow into the earth and plants as he passed.

It had slowly been noticed that Sunnydale had never looked so green before, though no one actually put any notice in why. The trees had reassured him that no one important had truly noticed. Or if they had, they hadn't noticed him.

' _The vampires have made it look like the Slayer has left town,'_  A fern that Rhys was passing, next to the door to one of the halls of residence, told him and he frowned and nibbled on his lip.

"Well… that's not good. Should we help her? We should help her," Rhys said with a sharp nod of his head, quickly jumping out of the way when a group of students tumbled out of the dorms.

"Watch it, dude," One of the men told him, turning back to his friends and then laughing at something they had said. Rhys watched them and then narrowed his yes, before wriggling his fingers and grinning when all their hair slowly changed colour into grey and the texture changed to steel wool.

"Don't mess with the best!" Rhys muttered and then punched the air in front of him and did a small hopping jig, before coughing when he heard the trees giggling at him. "So… do we help?"

' _How?'_

"Er… I dunno. Where is she now?"

' _The Bronze. You just missed her.'_

"Darn. Well, I did  _want_  to go to that club. Hmm, you stay here," Rhys said with a snicker, and then vanished with a wink and some glitter.

* * *

Rhys appeared in front of The Bronze and then twisted his magic to make people not notice that he was green, though he had learnt that the citizens of Sunnydale were even more blind to strange things than anywhere else in the world. Including the Wizarding World.

Rhys then made his way through the throngs of people, wrinkling his nose as his connection with his plants and trees slowly became more and more muted as he moved further and further indoors.

He looked around the room for any sign of Buffy, not entirely sure what he would actually do should he have found her, but then his eyes was caught on someone else and he felt his cheeks burn dark green. A young man was standing near the bar, with shaggy brown hair and a grin that just screamed mischief, and Rhys felt his heart literally pound against his rib cage.

"Oh sweet Puck," Rhys muttered, completely forgetting about needing to find the slayer and instead moving unconsciously towards the man, smiling brightly when the guy spotted him walking over to him and smiled back. "Hello."

"Hey! British! That's so cool! Why are you here?" The man asked, making Rhys gape at him a little, and then blink and shrug.

"Family… I guess. I'm Rhys Goodfellow by the way," Rhys introduced, holding out his hand, which the man took and gave a quick shake.

"Alexander Harris, but everyone calls me Xander. Your family not in here with you?" Xander asked him with a small frown of confusion, before looking past Rhys at something that made him smile even wider.

"Ah… they don't really like places like this," Rhys said, turning his head slightly and grinning when he saw Buffy standing in the crowd. "Is she your friend? I should go, let you go tell her you're here."

Rhys was actually a little surprised that Xander seemed to know Buffy, what he had heard of Slayer's of the past, they had never really had friends outside of their watcher, if their watcher could be called a friend.

"Yeah, hang on. Buff!" Xander yelled, then waved to get Buffy's attention, she spotted him and her eyes lit up and she smiled widely, hurrying over to them and throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Xander!" Rhys watched them with a light smile and then waved down the bartender, smiling brightly at the poor man and weaving his magic into the man's system whilst the Slayer was distracted with talking to Xander.

"What can I get you?"

"Can I have the sweetest drink you have please? And whatever these two want," Rhys said, waving behind him at Xander and Buffy, getting Buffy's attention when she realised that Xander must have been speaking to him before she saw him.

"Hi! I'm Buffy! Xander's friend! How do you know Xander?" Buffy asked him, and Rhys looked at her and blinked.

"Er… We just met. What would you like to drink?" Rhys asked her, and she gaped at him a little, clearly taken aback by his accent and then shook her shock away.

"Can I just get a lemonade, please?"

"Sure, Xander?"

"Same," Xander agreed with a nod of his head, smiling at him, getting a bright smile back from Rhys, who was clearly like one of Pavlov's dogs when it came to this man's smile.

Rhys then turned his attention back to the slightly dazed bartender and smiled brightly at him.

"Two lemonade's as well, please," Rhys added, and the bartender nodded and turned away to get their drinks.

"So, Xander, when did you get back?" Buffy asked, smiling when the bartender brought over their drinks and Rhys turned to the man once more, making eye contact with him and pulling over his hand.

"Thank you. Here's the right amount," Rhys told him, running his fingers over the man's wrist and depositing some petals in his hand, grinning at the man and then winking. The bartender smiled back widely and then walked away to serve someone else.

"Thanks for the drinks!" Xander told him and Rhys smiled at him, and took a sip of his own bright green drink, sighing at the taste of pure sugar.

"So? When did you get back?"

"You went somewhere?" Rhys asked, looking at Xander with wide eyes, making Xander stare at him before he coughed and smiled sheepishly.

"I went on a road trip. Got back a couple of days ago," Xander added, looking at Buffy, who pouted and then gently slapped his arm.

"Freak of nature!" She exclaimed, which Rhys took offence to but didn't say anything. "Why didn't you call me?"

"You were starting the college adventure and I didn't want to…" Xander chewed on his bottom lip and then grinned. "…you know, help you move."

Rhys snorted into his drink at that, whilst Buffy rolled her eyes and then smiled at him, moving to take a seat at the bar next to Rhys, Xander grinned and rubbed the back of his neck before taking the other one on the other side of Rhys, who moved back slightly so they could see one another.

"I missed you. How was your trip? Is America nice? I hear it's nice," Buffy said and Rhys frowned and looked confused.

"You are American. How can you not know if your own country is nice?" Rhys asked, looking at the two confused. Buffy flushed and then nudged him playfully.

"I was being… ironic!"

"Ah, so, is America nice?" Rhys asked, looking over at Xander, who was grinning at them both, he shrugged easily and then played with the straw in his glass.

"There's some purple mountains majesty, I have to say," Xander told them easily and Rhys narrowed his eyes, feeling the lie coming from him and wondering why he was lying.

"What'd you do? What'd you see?" Buffy asked him eagerly, and Rhys turned to look at Xander in interest. He loved seeing new countries and in between learning small tips on ruling a country and creating havoc on Britain, his father had taken him to certain countries in Europe.

"Well…"

"Tell me!"

"I admit, I too would like to know. I only arrived in America a couple of weeks ago," Rhys admitted, swirling his finger in his drink and then placing it in his mouth, smirking around it when both Buffy and Xander watched him before they both flushed and looked away quickly.

"Grand Canyon!" Xander exclaimed and Rhys looked at him with a small frown, wondering why he was still lying.

"You saw the Grand Canyon!" Buffy exclaimed, excitement in her voice, and Rhys turned slightly to look at her and smiled when he saw Xander shift uncomfortably out the corner of his eye.

"Well, I saw the movie  _Grand Canyon_  on cable. Really lame," Xander added with a frown and look of disgust, which made Rhys chuckle, whilst Buffy just looked at Xander in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car," Xander told them, and both Buffy and Rhys turned to look at him incredulously. "And that was literally. So, I washed dishes at the Fabulous Ladies Nightclub for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one bothered me or even spoke to me until one of the male strippers called in sick…" Rhys choked on his drink at that and turned his full attention to Xander, who blushed bright red at the interest Rhys and Buffy were paying to him. "No power on earth will make me tell you the rest of that story," Xander added and both Rhys and Buffy both visibly slumped, making Xander laugh nervously.

"Damn. No power? Not even a really powerful, power?" Rhys asked, tilting his head and look at Xander with wide eyes. Xander looked at him with a shocked look and then shook his head furiously.

"No. No power. Suffice to say, I traded my car for one that wasn't entirely made of rust came home to my loving parents, where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent," Xander told them and Rhys frowned and wondered if Lily and James would have done the same to him. He knew his father wouldn't, but then, in his eyes, Rhys was still a baby. Literally. "How's college?"

"Male strippers," Buffy said and Xander once again shook his head.

"No power on this earth," He told her firmly and Buffy pouted, making Rhys grin into his drink, amused by the two, obviously very close, friends.

"Okay," Buffy said with a wide grin. "College is good."

"Okay, once more with even less feeling," Xander said, and Rhys had to agree, if silently, with Xander. Though Rhys also had more of an idea as to why.

"No really! I mean, Willow's in heaven and Oz has this really cool house off-campus with the band," Buffy explained and Rhys looked at her with interest, wondering if this band with the mysterious Oz was the same one Devon was in.

"And you're sitting here alone at the Bronze looking like you have cancer of the puppy," Xander told her and Rhys snickered and looked over at Buffy, wondering if there was anything he could say to make her feel any better. Probably not.

"It's just…" Buffy sighed and shrugged, before glancing at Rhys, then back to Xander. "There was this girl and she was a real… bitch."

"A girl? A strangely light-phobic girl?" Xander asked and Rhys choked on his drink slightly and then started to laugh, making Xander and Buffy stare at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, you can say vampire in front of me you know. I know about them. You don't have to give… strange euphemisms. It's nice meeting some people who seem to know about them too. People in this town are shockingly blind to it all considering what this town is," Rhys added, draining the last of his drink, completely oblivious to the gapes of shock he was getting.

"You know about…"

"Sure. What, you think I'm a stuffy Brit? Don't be silly, we don't all drink tea and eat crumpets. Don't like crumpets myself," Rhys added, sighing and looking to the side at Buffy, then at Xander, seeing that they both looked pretty shocked. "I'd best be off. I hope we can meet up again sometime. Buffy, I hope you can sort out your little problem. Consider asking the trees for help. They like you." Rhys added with a wink, then slid off his stool and walked away, getting lost in the crowd, feeling Xander and Buffy's stunned gaze on his back until he was out of sight.

"Trees?" Buffy asked Xander once she had gotten over her shock.

"Trees."

* * *

Rhys stood in the shadows outside of the Bronze and waited for Buffy and Xander to leave, eyes half-closed as he listened to the voices on the wind telling him things about the town.

It was only about ten minutes later that Buffy and Xander emerged from the club and made their way to a building on the campus. Rhys followed them at a safe enough distance not to be noticed by Buffy, trailing his fingers over any plant that stretched out to get his attention.

"Do you know where they are?" Rhys asked the trees he passed, and the heard the question being brushed along the wind to all the trees around the campus.

' _Yes… We can take you there.'_

"Ah, we'll wait for those two, see if they can find out where they are as well. Anyway we can give them a helping hand?"

' _Technology is not a part of nature. It is out of your control.'_

"Bugger, thought you'd say that. Ah well, looks like we just sit back and wait then," Rhys said and then moved away from the trees that were wrapping around him lovingly and moved towards the broken door to listen in.

"…can't believe the vampires took your stuff. Murder I expect, but petty larceny seems so… petty," Rhys grinned when he heard Xander talking, but not moving to look into the room, just in case either one of them saw him.

"They have to be keeping it somewhere. On campus or at least nearby."

"Hey, how far back do the disappearances go?" Xander asked and Rhys heard the sound of someone typing on a keyboard, mentally sneering at the use of technology. Computers were useless when you had trees.

"They weren't too common before '82," Buffy told him after a minute or two of searching.

"Magic number! Check this out." Rhys nibbled on his lip and wondered what Xander was showing Buffy and wishing he hadn't wimped out and left them when he had.

"Psi Theta loses its charter. Building to be closed for renovation," Buffy said, and Rhys wondered if she was reading something, whatever it was, that Xander had found.

"1982. Look at this," Xander said and this time Rhys heard some paper being rustled. "Former Psi Theta house lies dormant while issues drag on before the city council. We have a winner."

"Block the doors discreetly. Don't let the vampires leave the house," Rhys muttered and felt his command being passed along the wind, knowing that it would be followed within a few minutes.

"Looks pretty cherry," Buffy said, making Rhys wonder what the hell she meant.

"You up for a little reconnaissance?" Xander asked and Rhys grinned, moving back from the door.

"Where we all sculpt and paint, and stuff?" Buffy asked, and Rhys bit down on his lip hard to stop his laughter as he quickly moved away from the door and moved back into the safe hold of the trees.

' _The doors have been blocked. No one will be able to leave. Ivy has grown up, around the house and has managed to creep in the windows. You will have help on the inside should you go in.'_

"Thank you. Don't know if I will use it though. It would give away that there was something a bit… different about me."

' _Your father taught you to fight. He would not have allowed you to come here without that knowledge.'_

"Yeah, he did. Oh, Burnham Wood's on the move," Rhys muttered, watching as Buffy and Xander exited the building and made their way towards the abandoned sorority building.

Rhys followed behind them, once again at a safe distance, and then grinned in satisfaction when he saw the house the vampires were in. The doors were blocked, but not obviously so and ivy covered all the walls and most of the windows.

Buffy and Xander looked at the house and then slowly walked around it until they came to a part of the house where they could climb up it safely. Rhys winced slightly as he heard the whispers of pain coming from some of the ivy, and so let his magic run out and sooth it, making the plant stronger and more resistant to the humans climbing it. Rhys winked and appeared on the roof of the huge house, far enough away that Buffy and Xander didn't notice him.

' _Prince Rhys! Prince Rhys!'_ Rhys winced at the excited whispers of the ivy and crouched down to run his fingers over it, keeping an eye on the two humans looking in the house through the large window on the roof.

"Score!" Buffy whispered, whilst Xander climbed the rest of the way on to the roof and moved to lie next to Buffy, looking in the window. "Oh! That's my skirt!" Rhys rolled his eyes and wondered if Buffy took anything seriously, then blushed at how hypocritical that sounded. "You're never gonna fit in it with those hips! We have to kill them."

Rhys grinned and managed to hold back the snickers that wanted to escape him, instead focusing on calming down the excitable plants writhing around on the roof before Buffy and Xander noticed that the ivy was moving.

"We need weapons," Xander pointed out and Buffy moved back to look in the window.

"I don't see my weapons trunk there. It was right by my bed. Mr Gordo?" Buffy suddenly gasped out in horror, making Rhys wonder who the bloody hell Mr Gordo was. "Go to my room. If it's not there, try Willow's. I'll keep an eye… My dairy?!"

Rhys winced at Buffy's hissed shriek and then sighed and twitched his nose, wondering if he could get away with pranking one of the two on the roof with him. Probably not the best idea, given who they were.

"I'll hurry!" Xander exclaimed quietly and then moved away from the skylight and down the side of the house, the ivy doing Rhys' bidding and making sure he didn't fall.

"Laugh all you want. This time we play it my way. And the rules are gonna be—" Rhys watched in disbelief as the skylight gave way and Buffy went crashing through it and into the house with the two vampires. Rhys cursed under his breath, hurried over to the skylight and looked down, seeing Buffy lying on the floor, with the two vampires staring at her in shock. Rhys cursed again and then winked and appeared in a shadowy corner. The ivy trailing through the boarded up window reached out to caress his hair lightly, making him smirk, and then wiggle his fingers and watch as both the vampires tripped up as they went to walk over to Buffy.

Buffy gaped at them from her spot crouched on the floor, clearly in pain, the two vampires cursed and quickly scrabbled to stand up, the slightly more dense vampire actually falling down again. Sunday watched her companion and sighed, then looked down at Buffy, who had managed to push herself up off the floor slightly.

Rhys moved away from his corner and slowly, quietly walked around the wall of the room, keeping his eyes on the vampires and Buffy, making sure that he was ready to jump in should Buffy actually need it. But also making sue he was out of sight so that he could stay hidden from them for as long as he possibly could. He wasn't naïve enough to actually believe he would be able to leave this room without  _someone_  noticing him.

"…beating the crap outta you?" Rhys jerked back to attention when he realised that Sunday had been speaking to Buffy.

"I just thought I'd drop in," Buffy told her, standing slowly keeping her arm close to her body, making Rhys frown and wonder if she had hurt herself badly in the fall. Nothing he could do if she had. He only healed himself and plant life. "Get it? Drop in?"

Rhys snickered softly and then cursed when he realised it wasn't quite quiet enough and everyone was now looking around for the source of the chuckle.

"Who's there? What, did the little Slayer bring a friend?" Sunday called out and Rhys sighed and then stepped out of the shadows, one strand of ivy reaching out to him discreetly before pulling back again before anyone other that Rhys, noticed.

"Hello again, Slayer," Rhys said with a nod in her direction, noticing her shock that he hadn't said her actual name. Though the vampires probably already knew it, given they had her stuff.

"Oh! Rhys! Er… what are you doing here?"

"Taking in the scenery," Rhys told her breezily, moving further into the room and moving to stand near to the male vampire and wriggling his fingers, before he caught Buffy's eye and winked.

"Little short to be playing big bad vampire killer, aren't you?" Sunday asked with a sneer, making Rhys look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not a vampire killer, she's the vampire killer. Being the Slayer and all. I'm a botanist. I like plants. They like me too. I can hear them talking, whispering, gossiping. Oh my, you are a strange little vampire, aren't you?" Rhys asked when he tilted his head to the side as though listening to something only he could hear.

"What?! What the hell is going on here? Enough of this, you two are going to become our next meal!" Sunday snarled and then launched herself at Buffy, who went down having not been paying all that much attention to Sunday, but rather looking at Rhys in confusion.

Rhys sighed when he felt the male vampire move to grab him, and then decided to have a little fun and let him get a hold of him.

"You really aren't a fighter, are you?" The vampire asked with a leer and he moved down to sniff at Rhys' neck, making Rhys smirk and then lean his head back and let his body go completely limp.

The vampire cursed loudly, and let Rhys drop to the floor, having not expected the sudden dead weight. Rhys then swung his legs out and caught the vampire's ankles, making him drop the floor in shock. Rhys quickly got up, moved quickly to straddle the vampire and looked down at him, smirking wickedly.

"I don't kill vampires you know…" Rhys purred, looking down at the vampire that was staring up at him in horror. "I play with them. I wasn't lying. Plants love me. You know what makes them grow big and strong?" Rhys whispered in the vampire's ear, glancing towards the door when Xander came running in, followed by another, shorter man and a young woman. All three stopped and looked at Rhys in shock. "Xander! Hello!"

"Er… Rhys. Why are you lying on a vampire?"

"We're playing!"

"What? No! Dude, you gotta help me! He's gonna kill me! Please! He's insane!" The vampire begged out, making the male behind Xander snort in amusement, whilst Rhys pouted and Xander just gaped at them incredulously.

"Why would I save you? I kill vampires," Xander pointed out and Rhys sighed and shuffled slightly to get comfortable.

"Besides, I never said I was going to kill you. I said we'd play. It'll be fun! We can all become playmates or something. Never had them as a child. I was a little… sheltered. Being a prince and all that," Rhys lied, grinning and showing his perfectly pointed teeth to the horrified vampire when he looked up at him.

"You… you're not human! He's not human! Kill him! Save me!"

"Hey! Who says I'm not human? You can talk, you go all bumpy and shit. That's just not normal," Rhys pointed out with a frown and a pout. By this time, both Buffy and Sunday had stopped fighting to watch them as well.

"Er… Rhys?"

"Hmm?" Rhys asked, turning to look at Buffy, frowning when he saw Sunday standing beside her, gaping at him. "Why is she still alive? You should kill her whilst she's distracted."

Buffy jerked and looked to the side, before tightening her grip on the large splinter of wood in her hands and thrust it into Sunday's chest. Sunday gasped and staggered back before turning into dust.

"Looks like it's just you and me, kid," Rhys said, looking down at the male vampire, who was staring at where Sunday had been stranding in horror. "Aw, don't cry. If you cry, then I'll cry and then we'll all cry!"

"You killed her."

"Well yes, she is the Slayer. Really, I thought we'd established this. Bugger this, you're far too boring now. All mournful and no amusing pleading. Hmm… bugger, where's all the wood?" Rhys pondered, looking around him, then and smiling brightly when Xander silently handed him a stake.

Rhys then looked down at the vampire in front of him and leant down so that they were chest to chest and Rhys' lips were next to the vampire's ear.

"Your dust. Your dust makes my plants grow big and strong. With your death, you'll be giving something else life. Think about it," Rhys whispered, then pulled back and quickly plunged the stake into the vampire's chest and back out again, jumping up and off the vampire just as he turned into dust. "Well, that was refreshing."

"Er… Rhys?" Xander asked, and Rhys looked at him and smiled brightly once again, before handing him back the stake.

"Thank you for that. Hello, I'm Rhys Goodfellow. I met Xander and Buffy in the club in town earlier tonight. You must be Willow and Oz," Rhys said, proud of himself for remembering the two names Buffy had mentioned earlier that night.

"Ask the trees? What did you mean ask the trees?" Buffy asked before Willow or Oz could answer him.

"Er... I was being quirky? You know, leave them with a mysterious comment to make them wonder what you are all about. Ask the trees was pretty cool!" Rhys said with a grin, bounding on the balls of his feet.

"Ask the trees is cool," The other man, Oz said in a slightly stoned voice, making Rhys almost certain that he was in the same band as Devon.

"Thank you! Well, I really had better go, it's past my bedtime and all that. Mother Willow – Hey, Willow! Coincidence, no? Still, she doesn't like it when I'm out too late. The oogedie boodgies that are wandering around and all that," Rhys said, slowly walking along the wall towards the exit. The four humans all just stared at him in shock.

"Hey! Do you have a number we can call you on? Maybe we could hang out or something?" Xander exclaimed suddenly, making Rhys stare at him and then flush and look down at the ground.

"Ah, no. But… you know, if you do need me, then…" Rhys looked up at Xander and smirked. "Ask the trees." He then used the shadows to his advantage and stepped into them, leaving the room without any of the others being able to see him.

Once he was outside the house, he winked and disappeared with a cloud of glitter, hearing Xander's confused question just as he left.

"Why does he keep telling us to ask trees?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N – So, what did you think? This is my first attempt at actually writing in the Buffy fandom (hence me totally using Harry as a security blanket!). 
> 
> People have asked me about Spike already, lol! Clearly a popular character! Not that I blame anyone for that because he's totally my favourite as well! Therefore he will be showing up but how Harry reacts to him will be another thing entirely. 
> 
> Not sure how often I will be updating this as I'm still focusing more on Bitter Hug, but I'll try to post a chapter at least once a month! Hopefully after Christmas I'll have more time to work on my fics, so they may be more regular then. :D 
> 
> Reviews mean love! And I should totally include a chapter fact in this fic as well… your reactions are always so amusing… XD


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… let's play a game. It's called 'let's pretend this is also a new chapter for Bitter Hug and we're not now planning ways to kill the feckless author'… Sound good? Enjoy! Heh

Chapter Two

Rhys absently stroked the trunk of Mother Willow as he leant against her and decided on what he was going to do that day. His options, in his mind at least, were to stalk Xander or stalk Buffy. He just hadn't decided which one.

_"Perhaps you should consider finding the Slayer. Find out more about her."_

"Why her and not Xander?" Rhys asked, mentally reassuring himself that his voice just came out a little strange because he had only just woken up and not because he was whining.

 _"Because His Highness would not appreciate his baby son and heir trying to flirt with someone he hasn't met. His underage son,"_  Mother Willow pointed out, one long branch reaching down to stroke Rhys' cheek.

"What?! I'm nineteen! That is not underage!"

_"It is for a sprite. It is fairly unheard of for one so young as you to be left alone without their guardian."_

"You think da has left me alone? Don't be silly! The grass reports back to him. And I know he's told you and all the other trees and shrubs to keep an eye on me. Plus all flowers will be reporting my eating habits. Really, it's like he's here as well," Rhys grumbled, though still absently rubbing his cheek against the branch.

_"Yes, well, can you blame him? You're a baby. He only allowed you to come here because he knew the wizards wouldn't be able to follow you after they chased you out of Britain."_

"Fine, fine. He's a brilliant father. Something, I'd like to point out, I've never actually refuted. Still, it's not like I want to do anything with Xander! I just… want to watch!" Rhys said - still not whining, though maybe he should see someone about how strange his voice was sounding.

_"Maybe you don't want to do anything with him, but he's human and male. And a teenager. You would be amazed how many human, male teenagers I've witnessed come through here during the night with their significant others."_

"You think I'm significant to him?" Rhys asked cheerfully, looking at the tree excitedly and getting the strange sensation that she would be rolling her eyes if she had any.

_"That was not the point I was trying to get across, Little Prince. Perhaps you should consider searching out the slayer instead if only because you need to make sure she doesn't see you as something to slay."_

"Why would she think that? I'm not slayable! I'm adorable! Cute! And not bumpy faced with a strange taste for blood. Though I suppose if you're a vampire, it's not all that strange to like blood. Um… What were we talking about again?"

_"Sometimes your attention span is severely lacking. I was telling you that you needed to keep an eye on the Slayer."_

"Oh right. Her. Can I maybe just stop by Xander's first? You know, just… check in? Then I promise I'll go to wherever it is that the Slayer is. Also, before I forget, why was some of the local moss all in a tizzy about tunnelling? Something about it weakening their land?"

_"I haven't heard anything. Why would humans be tunnelling?"_

"How would I know? I mean, sure everyone thought I was a human for the first seventeen years of my life, but I didn't! Well, actually, maybe my mother didn't either. But given she died when I was only one, I don't think that counts much. My point is, I never believed I was human and so I really don't know what goes through their minds. Plus all the humans I've come across are just strange. So! Now that I've told you what the moss was whining about, can I go find Xander?"

 _"Do you not think you should find out more about the tunnelling?"_  Mother Willow asked him wrapping a branch around his waist before he could wander off chasing his imagination or something equally as likely.

"What? Why? What am I going to do about it?" Rhys asked, wincing when the branch tightened a little to become less embracing and more restricting. "Fine, maybe Xander will know! Please?"

_"Fine. But you know the grass will tell your father about him eventually. Especially the more interest you show the mortal."_

"Yep! Okay! Cheers! I'll be back later!" Rhys said with an absent nod as he tried to untangle himself from the tree's branch. "Oh! Wait. Um… do you know where he is?"

A sigh brushed through the tree's branches as she untangled from around Rhys and nudged him away from his trunk.

_"He's at the Watcher's house. The flowers will get you there. Perhaps, whilst you are there, you should introduce yourself to him and let him know you aren't here to cause trouble for his slayer."_

"Okay! I'll do that! And talk to Xander," Rhys added with a bright smile, stepping away from the tree and looking around him as he noticed it seemed to be early afternoon. Really, he should probably buy a watch at some point. It just seemed so human though.

_"Make sure you point out the to Watcher that harming you will upset your father and he is someone they don't want to upset."_

"Yep! Definitely not someone you should piss off. I'll be back later and I'll let you know what the seeing man said!"

_"Watcher!"_

"Yeah, him!" Rhys shouted over his shoulder, smiling brightly at the strange look a passing couple shot him as he made his way out of the park.

* * *

Rhys paused in his steps slightly as he noticed a dark-haired woman walk down the steps that would apparently lead him to where the Watcher lived - according to the flowers along the way - before he shook his head and carried on his way to the Watcher's. The trees and flowers along the way had let him know that Xander was still there.

"-Kicking myself." Rhys frowned a little as he wondered just what they were talking about, before shrugging and walking to the partially opened door and stepped inside.

"Um… hello?" Rhys called out, getting the attention of the three in there, and narrowing his eyes a little at the woman who seemed to be standing up to both the men in the room.

"Oh! Er… hello. May I er… who are you?"

"Rhys!"

"What he said," Rhys told the older man with a wide grin at Xander and another side-ways glance at the woman. "Why is there a vengeance demon in here? You do know it's more fun to get your own revenge, right? Plus, Anyanka tends to prey on men, not help them."

"You know who I am?" The woman, Anyanka, asked, looking at him in surprise.

"I do. Well. Technically, I was told who you were. Are. Actually, they're kinda confused about that but I figure that's none of my business. Um… Mr Watcher! I came here to speak to you. Actually, I came here to speak to Xander, but I was also told I should speak to you as well," Rhys told them, fidgeting a little as he looked around the room curiously and mentally restrained himself from wandering over the bookshelf full of old - and interesting - looking books.

"Oh well. Er… I'm Rupert Giles, though everyone calls me Giles and apparently you know of the Slayer. Or Watchers at least. Alas I'm not actually a Watcher anymore. And you know Xander?"

"Yeah, G-Man, Rhys was there to help the Buffster a while ago when she was preyed on by those creepy vampires at the start of term. How have you been Rhys?" Xander asked with a bright smile, bouncing on the spot slightly before side-stepping and moving closer to where Rhys was standing.

"Oh? How do you know Buffy? Actually, why did you need to speak to me? And Anya, why are you here?"

"I need to talk to Xander. Alone. Xander, come," Anya said, reaching forward to grab Xander's arm and dragging him away from Giles and Rhys, who both stared at the woman in shock.

Xander detangled himself from Anya's grasp and moved so that Rhys was more between the two of them, not that he thought he'd do much good given everyone in the room was taller than him.

"Erm. This is awkward! So…" Rhys trailed off, grinning when the other three all just looked at him strangely.

"How did you know who I was?" Anya demanded, turning her full attention to Rhys, scowling when she saw how close he was standing next to Xander.

"Oh! Right. Well, the trees told me. Actually, it was the Michelia which is more a shrub than a tree. He was a little confused about what you are. He knew you were a demon but now he says you seem to be more human. And also, you're talking about yourself in the past tense. Which is weird," Rhys pointed out with a grin, which changed into a snicker when Xander chuckled behind him.

"Been speaking to the trees again, huh?'

"Well, they are my guardians whilst I'm here without my da. Oh! Yes! That reminds me why I'm also here."

"Oh?" Giles asked, taking his glasses off and cleaning them before placing them back on his face and looking at Rhys with interest. "And you can talk to trees?"

"Well yeah. Like I said, they're my guardians. Though the grass around here just shamelessly tells on me to him! Like I have no privacy or freedom! Everything I do! It's just unfair," Rhys whined - and yes, he would fully admit that was what he was doing right at that moment - ignoring the odd looks he was getting from Xander and Giles, and the considering look he was getting from Anya.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Giles asked him, sounding like he wasn't asking the same question he'd already asked - and had answered.

"That's part of why I'm here. I'm Prince Rhys Goodfellow."

"You! You ruined one of my revenge wishes with your stupid pranks!" Anya screamed in a rage, launching herself forward and tackling Rhys to the ground, only just missing taking Xander down with them and then straddling his waist and throttling him. Which just made the cackles of laughter coming from Rhys sound a little more broken.

Giles and Xander stared at the two in shock and slight horror for a couple of seconds before what they were seeing registered in their minds and they rushed to separate the two on the floor. Giles dragged Anya away from Rhys. Who was lying on the floor, shaking with gasping laughter as Xander tried to make sure he was alright.

"You little pest! No wonder Britain ran you out of the country! Oh yeah! I heard about that! All the demon circles were talking about it! The little Goodfellow run out of his native country!" Giles and Xander both stared down at the snickering Rhys in shock once more, whilst Rhys just shrugged and managed to stop giggling long enough to smirk at Anya, who made a wordless noise of anger at the look.

"In my defence," Rhys paused for a second and then giggled again, "okay, I have no defence."

"I'm sorry, but how do you know him?" Giles asked Anya, whilst Xander helped Rhys stand up, though giving him slightly wary looks.

"The demon circles talked about me?" Rhys asked, looking a bit too happy about that fact.

"They've always kept an eye on your family. I think everyone shuddered a little when you were announced."

"Brilliant!"

"Yes, as enlightening as this conversation is, do you think you could possibly tell us what in God's name you're both talking about? Before I decide you're both too dangerous to let live and I kill you both!" Giles snapped, clearly having enough of being left out of the loop, and making Rhys look at him with wide eyes before he took a small step so he was standing behind Xander.

"He's a little demon! Kill him, Giles!"

"Hey! You were the one that turned somewhat unfaithful men inside out! You actually  _are_  a demon!" Rhys cried out from behind Xander, so all they really heard was his voice and didn't see the grin on his face. Which was possibly a good thing.

"Was! I  _was_  a demon! This lot broke my necklace!"

"Ouch, that sucks. Still! It's a bit harsh calling me a demon and trying to get them to kill me!" Rhys pointed out, still from the relative safety behind Xander, who looked like he was quite desperate to turn around and face Rhys.

"So you're not a demon?" Xander asked in a slightly higher-pitched voice than what Rhys assumed was normal, and reaching behind him to try and detangle Rhys' hands from his top.

"Nope!"

"Yes!" Anya shouted at the same time as Rhys answered, making Rhys pop his head around the side of Xander and scowl at her.

"You do know who will hunt you down if you get me killed, right? The whole court!"

"What?! Why?! I'd be doing them a favour!"

"Clearly the demon circles haven't heard how loved I am! Titania especially likes me! After all, I was abused by lowly mortals and then almost brainwashed by those other bloody mortals! Can you believe they cast a damned spell over me so I looked human! And then hid me from my father! So yeah, Titania loves me. Admittedly, the same can't quite be said for Oberon."

"Did you say Oberon and Titania?" Giles asked, looking at where Rhys was still hiding behind Xander.

"Yeah. They're sort of my aunt and uncle. Well, sort of. I mean, we're not the same species or anything, but we're part of the same court and so we're basically family."

"What are you?" Xander asked, finally managing to detangle Rhys from his shirt and turning to face him, frowning when Rhys just stared up at him and smiled brightly.

"Oh! Right! That. I'm not a demon at least."

"He damn well is! You should have seen what he did, Giles! You definitely should get Buffy to slay him!"

"Oi! Slay me and you'll have to answer to my father! The trees won't be all too impressed either."

"So you keep saying. Might I ask who your father is so that your warnings could perhaps mean something?"

"I suppose that would be helpful, huh? Maybe my full name could clue you in. I'm Prince Rhys-Robin Goodfellow. Son of King Robin Goodfellow. Though you might know him as Puck. King of the Unseelie Court. General pain the ass of the Seelie Court. I'm a sprite. A mischief fairy some call us. I mean, they'd be wrong, I'm not a fairy, but I do like mischief."

"A fairy?"

"I'm not a bloody fairy! I've got more in common with piskies than I do with fairies! I'm a sprite."

"And you have close ties to the king and queen of the sidhe?" Giles asked him, looking at him with great interest.

"No. And I'm going to blame the bloody Celts for that misinterpretation. Or possibly Shakespeare. Titania and Oberon are not the rulers of the Sidhe. That would be my father. For some reason the Celts never quite grasped that. And then that bloody insane mortal, Shakespeare, comes along and makes Titania and Oberon the bloody king and queen of all the fairy folk and all associated with them! No! Not right! They're not even bloody fairies!"

"They're not?" Giles asked, looking totally aghast that something he'd possibly researched might have been wrong. Either that, or horrified that a playwright from Elizabethan England didn't get all his facts right before writing a play.

"Nope! Ironically, they're what most mortals would call dark elves, even though they're rulers of the Seelie Court and according to most mortal books they're thought to be more in the Unseelie court. Which my father would be the ruler of. Anyway! Enough of all this. My whole entire point of being here, other than talking to Xander, would be to warn you not to harm me because my father wouldn't be impressed and the local vegetation and plant life would probably take it out on you. Plus, I might be able to help on occasion. What with all the oogie-boogies you've got lurking around this place. Hopefully the grass doesn't tell my father just what you've got lurking around here. Though luckily most demons are now kept away from my resting place!" Rhys told them cheerfully, smiling at the slightly stunned expressions on their faces.

"You would help us?"

"Hello! He ruined one of my vengeance wishes! You should definitely kill him!" Anyanka shouted, glaring at Rhys when he snickered at the memory.

"Oooh! I remember something else! Dunno if it makes much difference to you, but someone's been tunnelling under this fine town, though admittedly nearer the end of town that the university is. Any thoughts? It's really distressing the moss," Rhys added with a small shrug when all he got was strange looks.

"Er… I'm afraid I don't know anything about that."

"Okay! Well, I told the moss I'd bring it to your attention, and I did that so I've pretty much covered all the bases and such. Actually, possibly warn your little witchy friend not to do any spells on me. They generally won't end well for her."

"Why aren't you killing him?"

"Why aren't you killing her?"

"We don't generally tend to kill everyone we come across. Now, Anya, what was it you were here for exactly?"

"I want to talk to Xander. Alone. About our relationship," Anya told them, making all three men gape at her, before Rhys slumped a little and took a side-step away from Xander.

"Oh! So you two are um… significant?" Rhys asked, looking at them with wide eyes and ignoring the spluttered cough from Giles next to him.

"What?! No! We're not significant! Or even er… less significant! Wait, what?" Xander asked, looking from Anya to Rhys and then to Giles in the hope that one of them would explain to him what was going on.

"You know… significant. Mother Willow told me about people with significant others. Mates. Courtships and such. That's what you two have, right?"

"No!"

"Yes!" Anya and Xander said before turning to glare at one another whilst Rhys just turned to look at Giles in the hopes he'd explain though judging by the resigned look on his face, Rhys gathered the older man would rather they just leave.

"Does anyone have any tea?" Rhys suddenly asked, feeling a little sorry for the Watcher and deciding that he'd just make happy with the fellow Englishman and have some tea.

"Tea? Oh… er… yes, I have tea. Several types in fact. What would you like?"

"Do you have Ceylon?"

"Yes."

"That'll do then! Thanks! A splash of milk and four sugars. Cheers! And um… while we're having tea, maybe you two should decide if you are significant to one another or not. I hear it helps if both parties are cooperative. Actually, I hear it's only legal if both parties are cooperative. Well, with humans. It's generally not advised to try anything with an unwilling sidhe or fae so no one bothered to make a law banning such a stupid thing. Seriously. Don't try to force someone who can turn you into a pig and then slaughter you and create a lovely spit-roast with your still piggy remains into doing something they don't want to," Rhys added with a small shrug and then smiling at the stunned Xander and scowling Anya.

"We're not dating. Anya, why the hell did you think we were dating?"

"You took me to the prom!"

"And then you ran off at the first sign of danger!"

"Well, now I'm back and I can't stop thinking about you. Sometimes in my dreams, you're all naked."

"I'll get on to making that tea then, shall I?" Giles interrupted hastily, before making a break for the little kitchenette his apartment had, though given there was a large window hole in the wall, Rhys figured he wasn't going to get away from overhearing any more uncomfortable details.

"Why would a vengeance demon who hated men and did very nasty things to them want to date one? Also, why did you only avenge scorned women? Though that last question doesn't have to be answered, I realise it's slightly off topic."

"Yes. Well. People change. And lose their powers. So, I can assume a standing Friday night date and a mutual recognition as Prom night as our dating anniversary."

"Anya. Slow down there. In fact, come to a screeching halt. We're not in a relationship."

"You're not? Well. That's good then! I was worried about your sanity, dating a man-hating vengeance demon and all that!" Rhys said cheerfully, practically skipping away from Xander's side and over to the bookshelves. "You have some very interesting books here. Though the  _Compendium of Celtic Beasts_  is utter wank. It'll probably be more useful as fire wood."

"Shut up, you evil little pest! You know nothing about mine and Xander's relationship. Now, Xander, I think we should go on a date this Friday."

"Anya! No! We're not dating. For one, these things have to develop on their own. You can't force them," Xander told her taking another step backwards slightly towards Rhys.

"Okay. How?" Anya asked, making Rhys stop his search of Gile's books and from the sounds of things making Giles stop his rather noisy tea-making session as they all turned to hear Xander's answer on that.

"I don't know! It just… happens."

"Huh. Informative. So, now that you've finished telling Xander what you wanted to tell him, can I talk to him now? Not that I actually have anything to tell him, now that I think of it," Rhys added, absently taking an interesting looking book off the shelf and flipping through it.

"Perhaps you could all tell me exactly why you're still invading on my space and talking about your private lives within my hearing. Here's your tea," Giles added as he handed a mug to Rhys, which he took with a smile and then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the drink.

"This isn't the American tea, is it? Because I'm not entirely sure that could be called tea in the truest sense. Not that I'm all for truth and honesty, but still… tea. That's sacred. You shouldn't lie about tea. So, it's not, right?"

"No, I refuse to drink that disgusting stuff. I have this imported. Perhaps you could tell me some more about… sprites, was it?"

"Yeah, I'm a sprite. And sure! I'll tell you some more about us. Admittedly not anything you could actually use against me, but I can tell you other stuff you might want to know. Um… what would you want to know?" Rhys asked, taking a sip of the tea and give a small sigh of happiness at the sugary tea goodness. He really did need to make a trip to some sugar fields or wherever they grew sugar. The plants there must have some great food to share with him.

"Oh? Well, you look like a human, so I suppose there isn't much way of telling if there are any there sprites around. But, perhaps you could give us some clues on how else to tell?" Giles asked him, both of them ignoring the bickering of Xander and Anya by the still open front door and moving to sit down on the couch.

"Oh! Right! I'm still covered by a tythe!" Rhys exclaimed, looking at Giles sheepishly before he winked and clicked his fingers and his hair grew a few inches, becoming shoulder length with odd leaves, flowers and feathers tied in it in different places, his skin turned pale green and his eyes became narrower and a brighter green. And his teeth became sharper. All in all, he looked a lot less human than he had seconds before. "This is what sprites tend to look like. Well, the skin colour at least.  _Well_ , wood sprites that is. Water sprites have a more blue tint to their skin and tend to have lighter brown or blonde hair. Wood sprites have green skin and darker coloured hair, dark brown, black and occasionally dark red. However, we do have magic of our own and can cast tythes that will hide our true appearance to anyone."

"A… tythe? Like a tax?"

"Oh! No. It's what we call spells. However, we would occasionally cast them for mortals in payment. Which is sort of where the tax payment thing came from. I think. I possibly drifted off a little when my father was explaining it all."

"Right. Of course. Well, not the tythe thing admittedly. Will there be many sprites wandering around?"

"Not here. Most of them tend to stick to the old country. Or in the Between World. And even if they did come here, they'd probably leave you alone. We like to make mischief but we don't want to put ourselves in danger by targeting anyone possibly stronger than us. The only reason I'm here is because I was advised to make pax with you so to speak. Make sure your Slayer doesn't see me as a threat whilst I'm staying here," Rhys told him with a grin, before they were both distracted by the sound of the front door being slammed shut with Xander leaning against it, looking at them with a lopsided, sheepish grin.

"Anya says goodbye. Huh. You do know you're green, right?" Xander said, looking at Rhys with wide eyes as he walked over to them and sat down in the only free chair.

"Yep. I was born with green skin. It's hard to miss when you're looking in the mirror," Rhys told him with a grin, twisting a lock of hair around his finger and tugging it slightly.

"Cool. So you're a sprite, huh? How come you're here on the Hellmouth?"

"I was bored. Well, and like Anyanka said, I was run out of England. My da agreed that here would be a good place to hide as the Hellmouth generally messes with most spells and so no one would be able to find me here that way! We figured give it a year to cool down and then maybe see if they've forgotten their anger at me," Rhys told them with a shrug, mentally adding that perhaps after a year, the Death Eaters will have finally worked out how to get rid of the bunny ears.

"So you're only going to be here for a year?"

"Probably. Who knows? My da will let me know nearer the time as to whether it'll be safe for me to leave the Hellmouth's cover. And even if it is, I might not want to leave."

"Well, ah, whilst you're here, do you think you could possibly work with us. I mean, should you hear anything you think the slayer should know about, you'll let us know, for example," Giles suggested, making Rhys look a him with narrowed eyes before he shrugged.

"It would depend on what I heard. Some of the plant life around here like certain demons, so they won't want me to pass on any information that might get them hurt. But the moss really is quite distressed about the tunnelling, so you should probably consider looking into that," Rhys added, tapping his chin and wondering if he should mention that William the Bloody was back in town. Though given how much the trees and plants liked the vampire - though many flowers liked Drusilla more and were disappointed she hadn't come back with him - he figured he should probably keep quiet about it. They'd probably find out soon enough anyway.

"Ah yes. The er… moss. Of course. Well, I suppose I can look into it," Giles told him, and though Rhys didn't actually believe him, he still smiled brightly at the Watcher and nodded his head.

"Thanks! I should probably get going. Mother Willow worries about me if I'm out too long when it's getting dark. Not that most vampires would attack me anyway. Still she worries. Um… You know, I wasn't actually joking the last time when I told you to ask the trees should you need me. If I hear anything I think you should know about, then I'll let you know," Rhys promised them, though silently amending it to anything he hears that the local plant life are happy for him to share. It wouldn't be fair to give them too much of an advantage over the local demons, would it.

"Of course. Thank you for stopping by. I shall make sure Buffy knows that you are er… safe and not to try and slay you should she come across you," Giles reassured him with a small smile, getting a bright one back from Rhys as he stood up and practically skipped to the front door. Before he left, he turned back around and looked at Xander.

"I'm glad you saw sense and decided not to make Anyanka significant to you! My da says that common sense is one of the only good things mortals have going for them and not dating a man hating vengeance demon just screams of common sense.  _Actually_ , my da technically said that common sense  _would_  be one of the only things going for mortals  _if_  they actually chose use it, but same thing right?" And with that said, Rhys shrugged and left the apartment leaving both men gaping at him behind.

* * *

 _"Prince Rhys! Prince Rhys!"_  The shouts of excited blades of grass washed over towards him with the breeze as Rhys walked through the main park he had basically declared as his home - which most if not all demons now acknowledged judging by the suspicious  _lack_  of suspicious deaths there since Rhys started sleeping there - towards the southern most gate that would take him nearest to the university. Somewhere Rhys found great fun given the amounts of oblivious non-Sunnydale-native students to mess with. Well, he was going to go there but given the sheer excitement and urgency from the blades of grass, he apparently had something better to do.

"What's up?" He asked, spinning on his heels slightly to sit down on the grass and then pushed his toes into the earth, letting the grass tickle him slightly.

 _"Prince Rhys, you need to go to the college! Our Master Vampire has the ring! He's going to use it against the Slayer! You need to stop him! It's not going to end well! You've dreamt of the ending! You need to tell our vampire that he needs to get out of Sunnydale!"_  Rhys frowned at that but then swiftly cheered up when he realised that he would be going to the university after all. With that cheerful though, Rhys ran his fingers through the grass and then jumped up and disappeared in his customary cloud of glitter.

He reappeared next to one of the uni buildings and glanced around him, wondering where to start looking for Spike before deciding the sensible thing to do would be to follow the sounds of the vicious fight going on. As he decided that, he noticed Xander running towards the sound of fighting as well and just shrugged to himself before running behind him.

He arrived just in time to see Xander go flying and Buffy to get flung to the floor, clearly losing. Though given the annoyingly prophetic dreams he had been having, Rhys very much doubted it would continue going in Spike's favour for much longer.

"I wonder what went wrong. Were you too strong? Did you bruise the boy? Come to think of it seems like someone told me that. Who was it? Oh, yeah. Angel." Even Rhys winced at that and didn't at all feel sorry for Spike when Buffy quite rightly upped the ante and started to really beat Spike up.

Rhys decided to sit back for a while and let Buffy teach Spike that it wasn't the wisest of ideas to mock a woman about a bad past relationship. Especially if that woman could quite soundly kick your ass.

Of course, this decision backfired when he saw Buffy get the upper-hand and suddenly had Spike's wrist in a tight grip.

"Oh, this isn't good," Rhys muttered to himself as he glanced to the side to see Xander slowly moving to stand and step closer to him.

"Rhys?"

"Xander! Good to see you um… standing. And alive. And not broken at all. It's great talking to you again but er… I have to go do something," Rhys told him, before quickly running past a confused Xander to where Spike was now flinching away from the sun and starting to smoke quite alarmingly.

Rhys clicked his fingers and made a nearby manhole open before running up to Spike and grabbing his arm, then dragging him over to the manhole and pushing him down it. He quickly followed behind the probably confused vampire to the stunned shouts of his name. With another click of his fingers the manhole cover closed over behind him, leaving him in the dark sewer tunnel with a now growling vampire.

"Hey! Your eyes glow in the dark!" And with that ground-breaking announcement the growling from Spike swiftly stopped and if ever a silence was confused, this was the time.

"Why'd you save me, lil bit? And then follow me down here?" Rhys clicked his fingers and a small green light appeared by his head, just highlighting his unnaturally green skin. "And you ain't human."

"Nope! And I saved you because the trees like you. Well, technically, the grass likes you more. The moss really doesn't like you though. Something about caves and tunnelling. Quite frankly I blanked off on what they said after the first ten minutes of whining. Still! I saved you because the Master of the Hellmouth didn't deserve to be burned up by the sun. Even though the sun is kinda awesome. I like the sun."

"Right, niblet. Two things really, one, what are you and two, what are you blathering on about?" Spike asked with a sigh, moving to lean more comfortably against the wall and looking at Rhys closely before sniffing the air. "You smell like flowers, dirt and innocence, which is vaguely familiar to me, but I can't quite place it."

"I'm a sprite! Prince Rhys Goodfellow at your service!" Rhys said with a bright smile and a literal sparkle as he made a cloud of glitter puff around him. Spike watched him curiously, and refused to allow the grin on his face to appear.

"Any relation to Robin Goodfellow by any chance?"

"You know my da?!" Rhys asked excitedly, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet as he looked up at the bleach blond vampire in front of him that strangely always made Rhys think about white weddings and shotguns. Every time. It was weird.

Spike snorted in amusement and shook his head, "no, pet, I don't know your da. I have read Shakespeare though. Didn't actually know he was real though."

"Yep! My da is totally real! And the king! Like you're the Master!"

"About that, pet, what are you bloody talking about?"

Rhys frowned at Spike's confusion and then shrugged before explaining himself, "you're the Master of the Hellmouth, of course. What do you think I meant?"

"I ain't the bloody Master of the Hellmouth, Pet."

"You really are. You were the last Master Vampire to claim that right and no one has since taken that away from you, so therefore you're still the Master here. The local plant life certainly view you as that."

"Right, of course, I'm assuming you're an earth sprite then, niblet? So I'm the Master and you didn't think I should get burnt up by the sun. That about right?"

"That about sums it all up, yep! Well, that and the grass really was insistent that I help you. Of course, I have no idea how I'm going to explain all this to Xander. I get the feeling he isn't your number one fan."

"Who's Xander? Your lover, pet?"

"Lover?! No! Ew! I'm only eighty!" Rhys said with a grimace which was quickly followed by a giggle. Though his amusement soon faded when he saw that Spike was frowning at him. "What?"

"You're only eighty? Why are you away from your da, Niblet? You're only a baby and a royal one at that. Why are you here alone?"

"Oh, that. Well, I kinda maybe pushed the British wizards a bit too far and they maybe kinda chased me out of the country. My da agreed that the Hellmouth would be the perfect place to hide from them as it would mess with any spells they might cast to chase after me. Besides, have you seen all the plant life around here? Do you honestly think I'm alone? Not a chance. So I'm fine!"

"Plants ain't gonna help you down here though, are they?" Spike pointed out, making Rhys finally see a flaw in the whole plan he had going. Hopefully pointing it out meant that Spike wasn't actually intending to use it against him.

"You… might have a point there. I should be going. Yeah."

"Niblet, I ain't gonna hurt the one that saved me now, am I?" Spike said, looking at him with narrowed eyes before patting at his coat and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He then glanced at Rhys again and gave a sort of muffled growl before putting them back in his pocket. "Look, now I feel like I should watch over you. So you now have the Big Bad as a protector, alright? And that'll make us even, yeah?"

"Um… sure. Actually, no! No! That's bad! You need to leave Sunnydale!"

"Why's that, Pet?"

"Because! If you don't leave Sunnydale then they'll catch you. They'll catch you and they'll twist up your insides and scoop out your instincts," Rhys finished with a slightly dreamy tone of voice.

"Er… you're not related to Drusilla at all, are you?"

"Who?"

"No one… So, who are this mysterious they?"

"You know that sentence made little to no sense, yes? And I don't know. I just know they're bad and they will change you. Cage you up and take your fangs. They'll make you become William again."

"Right… I'm not gonna lie to you, Pet. This entire conversation just went the way of no sense and slight discomfort."

"Not lying is always a good thing. Well, actually, my da says I should lie all the time to mortals, but well you're not a mortal so does that mean I should tell you the truth?"

"Nah, truth's overrated, Pet. Look, how about you get out of this plant-free sewer and I'll head on out of Sunnydale," Spike said, pushing away from the wall and straightening up even as he took out the cigarette pack once more, though he didn't light the one he place in his mouth.

"Promise? Do you promise you'll leave? You'll be able to come back one day but only once it's safe. Promise me you'll leave," Rhys said, making his eyes as wide as he could and giving the same expression that made even Oberon cave to his whims. It was his awesome secret weapon.

The puppy dog eyes.

Given the groan Spike gave, it apparently also worked on Vampires, which was good to know. "Fine, Pet. I promise I'll leave Sunnydale as soon as the sun sets. Now get to somewhere safe, yeah? I ain't leavin' until you're out of this sewer. Not right leaving baby sprites on their own without someone to protect them."

"Hey! I can look after myself! And don't believe Mother Willow, she lies!" Rhys added with a stomp of his foot and a nod of his head before he sighed and wiggled his fingers at Spike in farewell before leaving the sewer with his customary glitter cloud.

Spike just watched the gentle cascade of glitter float to the ground with a slightly exasperated look on his face before finally lighting the cigarette in his mouth and turning around with a flair of his duster behind him. "Bloody baby sprites. Dunno what his da was thinking leaving him alone on the Hellmouth of all bloody places."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Right, so… Rhys isn't a seer, by the way. He kinda has dreams like Buffy has dreams. Only his tend to revolve around things he can change. Or at least try to change. The white weddings and shotgun bit is in reference to one of Billy Idol's most well known songs. Well, well known if you're an Idol fan. Which, I shamelessly am. *Grins* 
> 
> Rhys, by the way, is a baby. I mean, technically, if you worked it out, he'd be about two in sprite years. But due to his upbringing as a human, he's probably mentally more like a ten year old. Spike doesn't know that though, so in his eyes he's just had a conversation with a toddler on their own. A weird toddler, admittedly but hey, what toddler isn't weird. They're like tiny drunk people. 
> 
> I hope I sort of got Spike right. It was strangely hard to get him vaguely Spike-like. And yes, I do like Spike and Xander. They're my favourite characters. I'm going to try and not bash anyone though. Because to be fair, I like most of the Buffy characters. 
> 
> So let me know what you think and er… don't hurt me for this totally not being a chapter of Bitter Hug and thus depriving you all from another gloriously random fact (though, hopefully the next chapter for that won't be too long in coming). *Snickers* Hope you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - So I actually posted this a few years ago on my LiveJournal and only posted the first chapter before suddenly forgetting how to write (or at least, that's what it felt like) but now the muse for it has just come rushing back - because it has awesome timing, I mean, I have all the bloody time in the world to be writing this - and demanded to pick this up again. I've made a few changes here and there, though they're only minor. Don't worry everyone who reads Bitter Hug, that fic comes first in terms of priorities to this!
> 
> Oh, and as I mentioned at the top, there won't be much romance in terms of a pairing. Harry/Rhys is still a child really, so he may be attracted to Xander but he won't really act on it. Kinda like having a crush on your older siblings friend when you were ten/eleven. 
> 
> And if you were wondering, Harry/Rhys is now about seventy-nine/eighty, but he looks like he's about fifteen/sixteen. Which is another reason why Xander probably wouldn't return Rhys' affections in that way. Though Xander is only eighteen. 
> 
> Hope you like my first foray into the Buffy world (even though they're not actually there yet) and please review and let me know what you think! :D


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